Problems with note detection

The i2M musicport™ MIDI Converter & Hi-Z USB Audio Interface

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Frank183
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:31 pm

Problems with note detection

Post by Frank183 »

Hi,

I'm trying to use the I2M for a tenor saxophone. I connected it to an iPad with a MIDI app. Now, I tried a couple of settings but there remains a problem with the note detection.

When I set it to "chromatic" then about a third of the notes detected are wrong. When I set it to pitch bend, then the results are a lot better, however to me the amount of bend detected looks to me much to high which makes it sound poorly tuned and also fairly often if flips over to the next note. I tried the bend range from 1 to 3 semitones. I set the gate according to the range of the tenor sax which certain helped.

Now, of course a saxophone (as opposed to other instruments, in particular guitar) has quite a different attack curve and it also has a lot of overtones. Which is why they always said that wave to MIDI converters for guitar or bass were unusable for voice, wind instruments, etc. However, I thought the I2M was supposed to close this gap ?

So, can anybody tell me what I'm doing wrong ... ?

Best regards
Frank
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james
Site Admin
Posts: 1866
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:12 pm

Re: Problems with note detection

Post by james »

It sounds as if the pitch-bend range of your synth doesn't match the i2M. MIDI lets you send a number for pitch-bend, but it doesn't specify how many semitones a bend should be -- indeed, it is designed to be flexible so you can make it be anything you want. The problem is when the sender (the i2M) doesn't match the received (your synth) it will sound out of tune.

Some synths support the "pitch-bend sensitivity" message which lets you configure the synth for the correct range. The i2M sends this message when you change the pitch-bend range. Unfortunately, many synths don't seem to support this message so it doesn't always help.

So you probably need to find the "pitch-bend range" or "pitch-bend sensitivity" (or maybe just "bend range") control on your synth and see what it's set to. Then adjust the synth, or the i2M, so they match each other.

For more info on using a saxophone, read this post: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=553&p=1405&hilit=saxophone#p1399
Frank183
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:31 pm

Re: Problems with note detection

Post by Frank183 »

Hi James,

thanks a lot for your answer, I will check that !

Best regards
Frank
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